But the meeting might be stillborn or end badly, even if it does occur.

An important challenge is the difference between the two leaders' official expectations. The Trump administration presumably believes it has a commitment by Pyongyang to denuclearize. However, Kim, to the extent that he genuinely contemplates abandoning weapons so expensively acquired and so tightly connected to his own legitimacy, is likely willing to do so only over time, and in return for concessions that enhance his regime's survivability. When I visited the North last year, officials well remembered the fate of Libya's Muammar el-Qaddafi, who negotiated away his missile and nuclear programs, only to be later ousted by the United States and its European allies.